This invention relates to fallfront cabinets and particularly to such cabinets having shock absorbing means for the fallfront panel thereof.
In the fallfront cabinet and door-stop arts a number of different arrangements have been used for spring loading the folding or sliding supporting brackets for the fallfront panel or door, as shown, e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,864,599; 2,013,418; 2,268,104; 2,565,442; 2,648,583; 2,674,511; 2,718,025; 2,910,336; 3,224,827; Netherlands No. 52339; and West Germany No. 761794. U.S. Pat. No. 2,718,025, for example, shows a flexible chain link between a door and its frame, the link being spring loaded at the midpoint by means of a tension spring running to the vicinity of the hinge portion of the door or frame.
This prior art device was designed for vertically mounted doors, and dangling of the flexible chain links and spring when the door is closed (FIG. 1) is of only slight disadvantage.
Such dangling of chain, however, would be intolerable in, e.g., a Sheraton secretaire such as the one illustrated on page 172 of "English Furniture and Decoration 1680 to 1800," G. M. Elwood, published by Julius Hoffman, Stuttgart MCMIX.
Less offensive but equally impractical would be the use of dangling chains in the cabinet of a modern magnetic tape transport, such as the one employing the present invention, which includes a fallfront panel for access to interiorally-mounted circuits.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide shock-absorbing apparatus for a fallfront cabinet, which apparatus automatically conceals itself with the cabinet is closed.